Projects
Canon Collins Trust builds the capacity of communities to improve educational access for marginalised groups, such as those suffering social exclusion as a result of race, gender, disability or ethnicity. Our projects are delivered in partnership with independent local organisations, a strategy which enables us to strengthen communities so that they can lead the way in responding effectively to their own educational needs.These projects benefit over 50,000 people in southern Africa each year.
The Trust has developed long term relationships with its project partners which in many cases date back over 10 years. By providing communities with long term support we are able to have a lasting impact on the education opportunities available to disadvantaged groups.
Please note that we do not accept unsolicited applications for project grants as our focus is on achieving a long term and sustainable impact through our existing partnerships.
We are increasingly maximising the value of our scholarships by involving our alumni in the design and management of our projects. Many of our alumni are now development professionals, and can invest their skills and knowledge back into their communities by helping to increase educational opportunities at grass roots level. See below for details of one of our first ‘alumni projects’ which has been designed by Zambian former scholar and inclusive education expert Francis Simui.
Current projects
Supportive structures for primary education -
Northern Cape, South Africa
Working with our partners at Hantam Community Education Trust, this innovative project is dismantling barriers to education for children from impoverished and illiterate family backgrounds. A pioneering teaching method is enabling teachers at remote farm schools to equip children with the conceptual tools to unlock and describe the world around them, and with health support which improves their concentration and attendance. Already, teachers are seeing a real impact in their classrooms. Here teachers carmen Ackerman describes the difference she has observed among her class of 6-7 year olds:
“The children are happier and more responsive. They have more confidence because they are doing something that they understand” (Carmen Ackerman, Umthombo Wolwazi Farm School)
Adolescent Girls' Literacy - Malawi
Canon Collins Trust works with the Adolescent Girls’ Literacy Project to increase access to education, health awareness and income generation opportunities for girls and young women in Malawi who have dropped out of school as a result of illness, pregnancy or the death of a family member. The project has transformed the lives of girls across three districts, with many previously illiterate young women now running their own small businesses and managing their own bank accounts. Many younger girls have been able to rejoin the school system as a result of their improved literacy and numeracy, and are now working towards the completion of their secondary education.
The Phelophepa Health Train - South Africa
Between January and October each year the 16 carriage Phelophepa Health Train pulls into towns and cities across South Africa to provide access to health care for up to 180,000 people. The train, which is staffed by volunteer medical students, offers dentistry, opthalmology, primary health care, counselling and pharmacy services to people with no access to state healthcare. Canon Collins Trust funds Phelophepa’s on board Edu-Clinic, in which 20 volunteers at each stop are trained in basic healthcare in order that they can take action to improve the health of their communities. This ensures that the impact of the train lasts long after it has pulled away from the station. The volunteers continue to receive support so that they remain active in their communities and pass on vital skills and knowledge to their families and neighbours.
Small Projects Foundation
After completing their training on-board Phelophepa, the volunteers are only at the beginning of their journey to transform their communities by sharing their skills and building upon the knowledge that they have gained. As role models in their towns and villages, the volunteers are supported to bring their communities together to decide what needs to be changed and how they want to change it. Having identified issues to be addressed, the communities are supported to effectively manage how they can best affect change, how they can access sustainable funding and how they can find appropriate support, both locally and further a field. Examples of community initiatives include a youth development project in the Kirkwood area of Eastern Cape, which raises awareness of how people can access anti-retroviral support and a training centre in Nelson Mandela Bay, which takes the message of how mother-to-child HIV transmission can be prevented into people’s homes.
Giyani Science Centre - South Africa
The Giyani Science Centre is one of South Africa’s most ambitious and successful rural Information and Computer Technology projects and has already radically transformed maths and science teaching in a region where unemployment is endemic. The Trust has partnered Giyani Science Centre for many years, and through our most recent project we provided fully equipped computer labs and teacher training in ICT to 29 remote rural schools. The availability of computer technology is having a major impact on young people’s prospects in these rural areas, as they are able to gain skills which are relevant to the modern workplace and which will enable them to earn a living in future.
University of Fort Hare Library - South Africa
As students, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and Govan Mbeki all studied in reading rooms of the Fort Hare Library. As the leading institution providing quality higher education to non-whites in the pre-apartheid period, hundreds of influential figures completed their formal education at Fort Hare. The library has the most extensive archive chronicling South Africa’s struggle for liberation of any education institution in the world. Today, Canon Collins Trust continues to fund scholarships for inspirational academics and staff working at Fort Hare. We are also supporting their under-resourced library by enabling them to re-stock their short loan collection and by donating the Trust’s own archive of anti-apartheid literature, much of which is still not available in South Africa but which is vital for Fort Hare to hold as the official custodian of literature relating to the struggle.
Inclusive Education Network - Zambia
Canon Collins Trust has just extended support to an inclusive education project designed by Zambian alumnus Francis Simui, who completed his Masters in Inclusive Education in 2007.
The project has founded Zambia’s first inclusive education network, which supports schools across the country to offer an inclusive and safe environment for all pupils. The project has drawn a great deal of attention from across the education sector and has the support of the Ministry of Education. It was as a scholar in the UK that Francis found the inspiration to launch the network. His voluntary work with the Enabling Education Network (EENET) gave Francis the idea for a similar group in his own country and with the support of Canon Collins Trust Francis has been able to realise his vision.
Radio as a tool for social change - Malawi & Zambia
In 2007 the Trust supported a project developed by alumnus Chester Shaba that looked at the use of radio as a tool to improve the quality of education in Malawian primary schools. We are hoping to build on this by supporting a further alumni project, which will use radio as a medium to empower rural women in Zambia, providing them with influence and voice in their communities.
